Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced that the United States Navy is renaming the USNS Harvey Milk to the USNS Oscar V. Peterson.
Hegseth: The speaker begins by announcing an important change:
“Well, I’m pleased to officially announce that the Department of the Navy is renaming the fleet replenishment oiler formerly known as the USNS Harvey Milk to the USNS Oscar V. Peterson. We are taking the politics out of ship naming. We’re not renaming the ship to anything political. This is not about political activists, unlike the previous administration. Instead, we’re renaming the ship after a United States Navy Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, as it should be. People want to be proud of the ship they’re sailing in.
And so, we’re renaming it after a chief, a Navy chief, that during the Battle of the Coral Sea in May of 1942, Chief Watertender Peterson led a repair party on the USS Neosho. The ship was severely damaged by Japanese dive bombers, and the entire repair party was either killed or severely wounded. Peterson himself was gravely wounded, yet he managed to single-handedly close the bulkhead stop valves, thereby helping to keep the ship operational.
In performing his heroic actions, Peterson received additional injuries and burns, which tragically resulted in his death. But his spirit of self-sacrifice and concern for his crewmates was in keeping with the finest traditions of the Navy. And for his heroic actions, Oscar Peterson was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
So, I would like to officially welcome the USNS Oscar V. Peterson to the Navy’s vessel register.”